Azaan opens out like a Polish war film. Both stylish and serene. And the slick execution continues well into the film. The style in writing can also be seen with the main characters playing mind games with each other. But, unfortunately, none of it is taken deeper.

These things which do make the first half of the film interesting, stay at the surface, or rather as a check mark in the list of to-dos. Action - check, emotional drama - check, romance - check. The romance is draining the viewer's resources of patience. And this is despite the fact that the romantic angle is an integral part of the story and how it culminates. So, even though I understand why it is necessary, I don't feel like tolerating it.

And this is despite a very beautiful Candice Boucher. The missing ingredient is context. Romance has to be a little more than the lead lady catwalking her wardrobe over a couple of songs on beaches. Sachiin Joshi is not very inspiring either. I understand, his character, Azaan is grim and serious and he actually has no reason to emote anything else. But, there must be something about his personality or the character's traits that makes me want to watch his story for two hours.

I loved the fact that the dialogue was minimalist. There are long silences and a lot of reactions are with expression alone. It adds to the mystery of the characters and the plot. The story by itself is something we have seen in non-Indian cinema earlier. But not too much has been done in the area of bio-terrorism and more importantly the psyche of terrorists hasn't been talked about a lot in our cinema. That in addition to the proper use of action is a gaping hole. Usually Hollywood action is aped just for the sake of action. In Azaan it is executed appropriately. Hence, I'm willing to let go a lot that goes wrong in the second half of the film.

If I were a teacher, I'd give extra points to Azaan for effort. And do we give leeway for improvement over director, Prashant Chadha's last endeavor, Aap Ka Suroor?